Recording your experiences with nature can be rewarding in many ways. It can allow you to revisit happy and/or interesting memories. It can also allow you to keep track of those experiences that you would like to remember for future use. One example would be a trail that you hike at a particular time of year that you enjoyed because of the wildflowers blooming or wildlife encounters such as turtles sunning themselves. Keeping a nature journal can also be a creative outlet. I have seen examples of journals that are full of drawings and short stories. For someone artistically inclined, nature can be very inspiring.
For children it can be a way to record aspects of nature that they have learned about. They can gather elements that they find during adventures in nature such as leaves, flower, seeds, feathers, and other interesting things. This is a great learning tool as they can identify the items and learn more about them. I remember in grade school the projects of finding dead dry leaves to press and then identify the tree they came from like oak, maple, elm, and hickory just to name a few. More advanced students can even go further by specifying the type of oak, maple, or hickory.
The journal doesn’t need to be elaborate. It can be a simple notebook or binder. I have used notebooks in the past but started recording my information on my computer word processing program a couple of years ago. It can be a family or an individual effort. There are no rules but I would suggest being consistent with your format to make things more convenient and easier to reference. You can separate things according to region, activity, or even just by date.
Just to sum things up, keeping a nature journal can be fun, educational, relaxing, and helpful. It can be in any format you desire and can include any information you choose. This can be a very inexpensive activity for individuals and families and is a good early step into furthering your enjoyment of nature.
An example of a journal format:
North Carolina Trail Journal
10-6-13 Pond Trail (Jordon Lake State Recreation area) – 1.25 miles. Located at the Seaforth area, Took 1 hr and 5 min to walk at a leasurely pace. Pine trees throughout the walk and 3 stagnant ponds. The trail occaisionaly comes close to the shores of the lake which are sandy. We saw a Kingfisher flying over the lake. The trail was easy to traverse and was covered with pine needles.
10-13-13 Buckquarter Creek Trail (Eno River State Park) – 1.5 mile loop trail, took 55 minutes to walk at a leasurely pace through easy terain. River veiws for part of the trail and we saw two turtles and a Blue Heron.
5/11/14 Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area – Did a combination of trails but was sure to include the Overlook Trail (.15 miles). The Mountain Laurel was in bloom and the view was beautiful. Several rock formations.